Portable bell and bracket system



(NdMb'deL) J. S. BALDWIN.

PORTABLE BELL AND BRACKET SYSTEM.

Paten'i zed Dec. 5, 1882.

Jnventa N PHERS Photn-Uihograplmn Walhinglun. D. C.

' UNITED STATES PATENT @rnrcn. a

JAMES S. BALDWIN, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

PORTABLE BEL LAND BRACKET SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 268,448, dated December5, 1882.

Application filed February 8, 1881. Renewed October 2, 1882. (No model.)i

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES S. BALDWIN,acitizenof the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex andState of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefullmprovementsinPortable Bell and Bracket Sys tems; and I do herebydeclare the followingto be a full,'clear, and exact description of 'thein- Vention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makeanduse the saine, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, andto letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification, and in which-- 1 Figure l is a perspective of threeof the brackets arranged on a line with each other, with theconnecting-wires broken, but illustratin g a method of connecting thebrackets, one of the brackets having the portable bell suspendedtherefrom; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through one bracket andbell.

My invention relates to electric alarm and call bells; and it consistsin the system or method in which a portable bell is used in connectionwith a series of brackets or other suitable instruments havingelectrical connection one with another, so that the bell can be readilyattached and detached or changed from any one of the brackets and analarm sounded from bination of parts hereinafter described, and

sought to be specifically defined by the claims. I will now describemeans by which the bracket and portable bell system may be carried out.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A indicates a bracket, madepreferably of hard wood, and provided with a metallic stud, B, a

pin, O, and a key, D. The key is slightly curved in the direction of itstwo ends, so that one end will be free from contact with the pin 0,except when pressed against it, and the other end will bear against aportable bell,when' suspended from the bracket, so as to hold it againstthe head of, the stud B. Any other construction that will efiect thesame results will answer. The key is held to its place by ing the loopover the stud.

in the building as is desired, and each one is,

connected to the other by a wire, H, or branch thereof, which connectswith the pin E of each bracket. A battery-wire, I, or branch thereof,passes from the pin 0 of one bracket to the corresponding pin of anotherbracket, and a second batterywire, J, likewise connects the brackets bypassing from one stud B to corresponding studs in theother brackets. Thetwo battery-wires, I and J and wire H, which may be run to any points,constitute a circuit, to which, at any desired point, a bracket can beconnected, and when a bell is hung upon the bracket it will respond to atouch upon any other bracket.

The portable bell, for illustration, may be of any pattern, and consistof two metal plates, K and L, separated and insulated from each other byan intermediate strip, M, of vulcanite or other suitable non-conductingmaterial. The plates K and L are fastened to the wood or other suitableblock, N, which may be a part of the frame carrying the striking-gong. Ahole to form a loop is cut through the plates K and L and strips M abovethe connection with the block N, and the plate L about the hole or loopis cut away, so as to expose the strip M and prevent plate L from comingin contact with the stud B when the bell is suspended therefrom. Bothplates K and L are connectedto the bell or gong by means respectively ofwires 0 and P. The bell is suspended from the stud B of the bracket bypass- The end of plate L rests upon or bears against the end of key D,and the spring of the latter presses the loop end of the hell, or ratherthe plate K, against the head of stud B. The plate Kis in contact withthe stud, but plate L is not, because it is cut away immediately nextthereto.

Now, to illustrate the operation of the system, we will assume thatbracket No. l is in one room and bracket No. 3 in another part of thebuilding where the servant of the household 'may be. The key issuspended. from bracket No. 3. The person to call the servant is in roomwith bracketNo. 1. Thekey ofbracket No. 1 is depressed till ittouchesthe pin 0. The current which passes along the battery-Wire I will nowpass through the key into wire H, thence along said wire till itreachesbracketNo. 3, then through pin E into key D, from there into plate L ofthe bell, down the same to the wire 0, leading to the gong, striking thealarm, thence through wire P to plate K, from there into stud B, throughthe same into batterywire J, and then ofi' to the battery. Ifthe servantshould leave one part of the building and go to another part, the bellmay be taken from off the last bracket and hung or suspended from thebracket in that part of the building where the servant is engaged forthe time, so that whena call is made the alarm will be sounded on thehell, placed by the servant where it can be heard.

Any number of these brackets and bells can be used, and, if desired, thealarm can be sounded in more rooms than one at the sametime bysuspending bells from the several brackets. The brackets can be placedon door and window frames and the doors and windows connected thereto,so as to make a connection between the wires I and H in the same mannerand with like results as by pressure upon the key by hand, as alreadydescribed.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the wire H is practically acontinuation of the battery-wir'e, and that by pressing any key till ittouches the pin 0 that key and all the others are made the-termini ofthe battery-wire I.

A front-door hell can be connected by wires to the brackets, so that thehell can be made to ring in any part of the building or in several partsat the same time by suspending the portable bells from any one or moreof the brackets. v

There are other means that may be used to attract attention besides thealarm-belL-f'or instance, an unfolding visual signalso that when theterm bell is used it will be understood to include other portable meansfor attracting attention.

I do not wish to confine myself to the details of constructionhereiubefore given; but,

an alarm can be sounded from any bracket at any other bracket in thecircuit, determined by suspending the portable bell from the desiredbracket where the alarm is to be sounded, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of battery-wires I and J, a wire, H, connecting aseries of keys,D, adapted to establish a current between wires 11 and I,a portable bell adapted, when brought in contact with key 1), totransmit the current through the bell,whereby an alarm is sounded,

and then off through wire J, substantially as set forth.

3. A portable electric bell provided with plates K and L andseparating-strip M, and an alarm-gongconnected thereto, substantially asset forth.

4. The bracket A, provided with key D, pins 0 and E, stud 15, adapted toreceive a hell or its equivalent, and connected Wires, substantially asset forth.

5. The portable bell provided with plates K and L and strip M, incombination with bracket A, provided with key D, pins 0 and E, stud B,and connecting-wires, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES S. BALDWIN.

Witnesses:

()BA WOODRUFF, WM. A. 000K, Jr.

